Semiconductor wafers such as silicon wafers are diced to produce small semiconductor chips which are used in the assembly of semiconductor devices. The dicing is accomplished by scribing the semiconductor wafer with two sets of parallel scribe lines which are perpendicular to each other and mark out of a plurality of square or rectangular chips on the wafer surface. The wafer is then broken along the scribe lines in order to produce the desired chips. Cutting wheels used for scribing semiconductor wafers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,961,707 and 3,886,925. These wheels have thin cutting discs which lie along the periphery of the wheel and which consist of finely divided abrasive particles embedded in a nickel matrix.
In the use of cutting wheels of this type it has been found that siliceous materials of which the semiconductor wafers are formed adhere to the nickel matrix. As a cut is made the siliceous debris from the cut adheres to the nickel matrix with the result that the frictional load on the wheel during cutting is increased with the result that the cutting rate is reduced and with the further result that the wheel life is shortened.